


Bridge Over Troubled Water

by HauntedBotanist



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Canon Continuation, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-04-07 21:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19093855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HauntedBotanist/pseuds/HauntedBotanist
Summary: A simple suicide of an ordinary man has the NPA and SPK on high alert for reasons unknown to the general public. Near, still carrying the mantle of L after all these years, is called to Tokyo before more ‘suicides’ start to occur.





	Bridge Over Troubled Water

 

On the 28th of November, 2023, exactly twenty years after the first Kira murder, a man jumped from a bridge in Tokyo, Japan. There was a total of 58 witnesses; 3 of which who were in the general vicinity had heard him mumbling to himself before jumping.

The man, who was in a suit with a case in hand, had walked the entire way to the bridge, seemingly deciding to kill himself way before arriving. He was identified as Eguchi Hideaki, 48 years old and single, a banker with no known criminal history or suspicious connections. Eguchi was described to be hard-working, competent and well respected by his community members. He had good relationships with his friends and family, who insist he had shown no prior inclinations for depression or suicide, and add to that, was scheduled to have a promotion next month which he knew about. But it’s nothing unheard of.

Overall, apart from the unusual coincidence of the date with the first Kira murder, there is nothing connecting those two events. Everything about them, from the victim to the cause of death, is different. Case closed. No reason to spend any time digging deeper. 

Until… the body of the victim is finally retrieved from the river and a piece of paper is found inside his pocket, slightly destroyed but still legible after careful forensic operation.

It has a name on it.

 

* * *

 

A castle built from a stack of cards tumbles down as the plane is caught in another turbulence.

Next to him, Roger sighs. This is the fifth time that happened.

Near takes one of the cards from the pile, starting to build again. Inside, he’s mulling over the questions surrounding the case.

One. Why did it take so long to retrieve the body? 

November - or nearly early December in this case - hasn’t exactly been hard on Tokyo’s weather. The sky has been clear and the river relatively calm for the past week. While it can be said that the river itself is far from ideal to search for a body in, it wasn’t in its utmost tempestuous season. But it still took more than a day for the Japanese police force to even locate the body. Let alone retrieve it.

Is it just human incompetence or something supernatural? He can’t be sure ever since the Kira case. Maybe it’s something he was yet to be informed about. There is no way to know until he reaches Tokyo. 

Two. Where is the case the victim was seen carrying?

Witness accounts differ in if the victim jumped with the case or left it on the bridge. Security camera footage is even more inconclusive, having caught only his upper torso as some cars obstructed the view. 

If he did leave the case there, was the case taken by someone? Or lost in the commotion following the jump?

If not and the case is lost to the river, was the contents of the case essential to solving the mystery anyhow? Even though it would be sensible to check if the paper found inside the victim’s pocket matched with any of the stationaries found inside the case, or if the case contained any clues in general, there are a lot of leads to go on as it is. 

No. If the case contains a Death Note like notebook inside and the slip of paper is from there, it would be imperative to find the case or make it so that no one finds it. Having lost it to a river just has too many uncertainties. Someone stealing it has bad implications.

Three. Is the suicide itself, in any way or form, related to any previous Kira murders? 

It has been nearly fourteen years since Light Yagami, Teru Mikami and Misa Amane died and C-Kira hasn’t acted since 2013, having since been presumed dead. While C-Kira’s notebook wasn’t ever recovered if someone got hold of it, why wait for ten years to use it?

The alternative would be that they did, but it was never noticed. That still doesn’t explain why they wanted to get noticed now.

Is the date meant to be an homage, or the notebook changed hands recently? The logical conclusion, in this case, would be that if there is a notebook, it’s unrelated to C-Kira’s notebook. Geographical locations and timeline make it improbable for it to be the same. Knowing that original notebooks’ positions are also all known and secure, this leaves a new notebook to rule a reign of terror, if there is a notebook in the first place.

There is still a possibility the victim was just acting on their own. So, was the victim himself was just a hardcore Kira fan in his youth and committed suicide as a way to honor Kira’s memory in its twentieth anniversary?

This doesn’t explain how the victim could have known that name. Or any other possible Kira could have for that matter.

Four. How did that name come to be there?

Near stops building the castle to rub his hand against his chin. 

It was Aizawa Shuichi, the new head of the NPA, that contacted the SPK as the significance of that name was lost on the general public.

Near did not know how exactly Aizawa could have known that name either, but it would not be that surprising if the man had read it from one of the Death Notes after everything had passed. The Japanese Task Force possessed them long enough for it to be the case. 

But that would mean Aizawa could be not alone in his knowledge, increasing the number of suspects exponentially.

There is also a really small chance that the name is simply a coincidence. But with the date of the suicide… One such coincidence can be ignored. Two is just improbable. 

Near stops for a moment.

It had been years since he thought about that name, more since he heard it spoken aloud.

His eyes drift to Roger.

He hadn’t agreed to Roger’s decision to tell him _his_ name, the real name and not just another alias, citing it was useless now that the man is dead anyway, but Roger seemed to believe it was beneficial somehow. Seeing that without being aware of that name the entire case wouldn’t have got to his hands, Roger is proven correct in his assumption. 

Near wouldn’t admit to his face though.

“We’ve got only twenty minutes until we reach Tokyo.” Roger doesn’t lift his head from his newspaper, but he must have noticed his stare.

Near leans back against his seat. Taking a card from the table, he continues building again.

But even with the man being conservative with sharing his name when he was alive, there is simply too big of a pool of people to investigate one by one. For now. From police officers who may or may not have gotten in contact with the Death Note that took L’s life, to people whom they could have shared that information with, to even ones who are connected to the Wammy’s House or L’s past -who can possibly know if Roger didn’t tell another as he told Near even?- there are just too many leads.

Too many leads for what could be just a suicide.

All this fuss because of a water soaked paper with Lawliet written on it.

 

* * *

 

The sky is a blinding white when they arrive in Tokyo. Roger has a moment to tumble his phone from the airplane mode before getting deluged with an incoming call.

”This is Roger.” They walk towards the passport line. Roger humms as a reply.

“No. I can’t do that. May you tell me what is it instead?”

As they move away from the crowd, Near starts to be able to hear the other side now. They have a slight Japanese accent, so are they from the Japanese police?

“I need to speak to him directly. It’s urgent.”

“I can’t do that, sir, without proper identification at least. Can you—“

“Roger, who is it?” Near feels curious.

“He says he’s the head of NPA.”

Near lifts his hand. Roger seems unsure but gives him the phone anyway.

“What was the reason you couldn’t wait until we contacted you, Mr. Aizawa?”

Aizawa sounds breathless in his ear.

“Ne— _L_ ,” he gulps, “there has been another suicide.”

 

 


End file.
